{"id":24055,"date":"2022-11-11T07:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/?p=24055"},"modified":"2026-09-17T08:00:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T00:00:05","slug":"the-1955-mercedes-benz-300-sl-gullwing-that-inspired-andy-warhols-cars-series-is-up-for-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/2022\/11\/11\/the-1955-mercedes-benz-300-sl-gullwing-that-inspired-andy-warhols-cars-series-is-up-for-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing That Inspired Andy Warhol’s ‘Cars’ Series Is Up for Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When Mercedes-Benz commissioned Andy Warhol for a series of Cars paintings and prints that celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1986, Warhol took his initial inspiration from the 1955 300 SL Gullwing, a slender coupe that got its name from its \u201cwinged\u201d doors. Now, Sotheby\u2019s is auctioning off the exact Gullwing \u2014 confirmed by its registration number, documents and a full inspection from Mercedes-Benz\u2019s classics arm \u2014 that Warhol used as inspiration for the series, some of the final pieces he worked on before his death in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of only 1,400 Gullwings ever made, this model was painstakingly restored to its original specifications by Brabus, an effort that took 4,500 hours of labor. It boasts signature silver-grey paint on its exterior, combined with a blue leather interior and ivory detailing on the wheel and gear shift. Originally sold in France, it then made its way to Germany in May 1981, and its second owner sold it to Brabus in 2020. Its rarity and condition alone make it a desirable item for deep-pocketed automotive collectors, but its proximity to Warhol and his final works enable it to serve as a piece of \u201cart history\u201d as well, and Sotheby\u2019s expects it to realize an auction price between $1.5 and $3 million USD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warhol famously quipped that he \u201c[wanted] to be a machine\u201d in 1981, and now it\u2019ll be a machine representing a part of his legacy when the auction closes on November 17. Hit the Sotheby\u2019s website for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When Mercedes-Benz commissioned Andy Warhol for a series of Cars paintings and prints that celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1986, Warhol took his initial inspiration from the 1955 300 SL Gullwing, a slender coupe that got its name from its \u201cwinged\u201d doors. Now, Sotheby\u2019s is auctioning off the exact Gullwing \u2014 confirmed by its registration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-24055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car","tag-mercedes-benz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24067,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055\/revisions\/24067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}